"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Step through the wardrobe and into the enchanted kingdom of Narnia. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter wave goodbye to wartime Britain and embark on a train to Scotland where they discover Narnia, the most magical of adventures materialise in a frozen, faraway land where they meet a Faun, talking Beavers, the noble king of Narnia, Aslan, and the coldest, most evil of all, The White Witch.

I remember reading the C.S. Lewis classic as a child but seeing this production on stage brought a new kind of magic to me. It has been a long time since I sat there with my mouth open, completely awestruck at the magic of theatre, as well as the theatre magic.

There is so much to see with this beautiful production that I should have taken notes as I just know that I will miss something out that I meant to relate.

We start with an emotive rendition of "We'll Meet Again" followed by a train journey brought to life by illuminated suitcases. Then there's the four children's initial reaction to their evacuation and their new home. The meet the nasty Mrs Macready, who had been sent to collect them from the station, and then their change of opinion after meeting the easy-going Professor Kirk.

And then Lucy discovers that wardrobe in the spare room, and we all know the story about the magic of Narnia and the battle between good and evil.

Let's start with the music. This is one of those productions that has the actors playing instruments on stage. Everything from percussion to flutes, fiddles to cellos plus a piano, creating the most evocative Celtic soundtrack to the action.

The puppetry was pure magic. Designed by Max Humphries and Directed by Toby Olie, from the Professor's pet cat to the magnificent lion, which took three puppet masters to operate, and like "War Horse" you grow to blank out the puppeteers and just see the animal itself. This is one show that truly benefits from having puppets as part of the story, adding another dimension of awe-inspiring viewing to theatre.

There is a section which includes brightly coloured florescent cubes which seemingly skip across the stage and builds itself into colourful human figure, all engineered by human hand.

The Lighting Design (Jack Knowles) was excellent, as was the Sound Design (Gareth Tucker & Ian Dickinson).

There were actors flying around the stage, exciting fight choreography and an amazing section where Aslan (Chris Jared) completely disappeared in front of your eyes from a sacrificial slab, only to appear alive and well at the back of the set and then to vanish from there back on to the stage within what seemed seconds. There are many scenes which included magic and illusion, created by Chris Fisher, which simply astounded not only the younger audience members but everyone.

The costumes are incredible, and in Act Two there is a section with some extremely scary heads, which had the possibility of giving some of the kids watching nightmares. I may even sleep with the side light ON tonight! The set and costume designs (Tom Paris) were amazing.

The whole wonderful shebang was directed by Michael Fentiman.

Samantha Womack, who played Mrs Macready as well as The White Witch was deliciously evil. Looking absolutely gorgeous but boy you'd not want to cross her! Another slight of hand/eye illusion made her disappear from the centre of the stage at the end.

Anmar Duffus (Peter), Shaka Kalokoh (Edmund), Robyn Sinclair (Susan) and Karise Yansen (Lucy) were all excellent and quite believable as the four Pevensie children who were evacuated up North. Jez Unwin was a wonderful Mr Tumnus. A large cast which meant that there was always something, and someone to keep an eye on.

At just over two hours, with interval, the show is just right for young kids as their attention was held every single minute, as well as for the older generation who may not like their theatre outings to be too long.

I have always believed in the magic of theatre and have seen several illusions on stage within plays and musicals but this show has to be one of the very best for illusions, and because I did not expect the illusions, they had the perfect effect on the viewer.

An incredibly technical piece of theatre which had some audience members crying because of the pure magic of the performance and puppetry. A production that quite rightly merited the standing ovation from some of the audience, but also deserved a full standing ovation in my humble opinion.

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 5 February and is worth every penny of the ticket price.